The 'Canada Brand': Violence and Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America

Abstract

This is the first report to profile specific forms of violence and criminalization associated with Canadian mining projects in Latin America over a fifteen-year period. Each incident is carefully footnoted and all web links are preserved using Harvard Law School’s Perma.cc service. The report is critical of the lack of Canadian mechanisms for investigating human rights abuses of Canadian companies operating overseas. It draws on the thinking of former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie and others to argue that the concepts of proximity to violence and complicity of the Canadian company should be the basis for rethinking the current law in Canada.

Keywords: Mining, human rights, violence, Latin America, Corporate Social Responsibility, National Contact Point, Corporate Accountability

JEL Classification: K1, K19, K2, K22, K3, K32, K33, Q3, Q38, Q39